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Siege of Sub-Sector Solaritus
The Siege of Sub-Sector Solaritus, known also as the Night of Division was a sub-sector wide Imperial conflict fought between the loyalist Hammer Guard and Novus Krakens Chapters against the Forsaken Hammers Chaos warband and various Forces of Chaos during the Days of Binding following the formation of the galaxy-wide rift, known as the Cicatrix Maledictum, that lasted for 36 years. With no way to call for aid and trapped within the separate systems they choose to recruit from, the Hammer Guard and Novus Krakens were forced to defend the Sub-Sector and their future as it was besieged by their own kin, who had turned to Chaos. The conflict's end would bring the arrival of the Indomitus Crusade and its reinforcements of Primaris Space Marines, but would also leave the sub-sector in flames, each planet now recovering from a war longer than any resident had ever known. The Hammer Guard and Novus Krakens would both be severely depleted and have lost several key figures within their chapter, and entire companies would need to be replaced with the new Primaris Marines. On the other side of the conflict, the Forsaken Hammers would be leaderless and fleeing, their numbers having dropped to critical levels. History Since the loss of their homeworld of Gabarlos, The Hammer Guard have acted as the guardians of Sub-Sector Solaritus, the location of their fallen home and their recruiting grounds. Ever since the Forsaken Heresy, when the Hammer Guard chapter suffered a schism as some of their brothers fell to the corruption of the Dark Gods and became the Forsaken Hammers, this watchful gaze has grown ever vigilant. Now with the aid of the Novus Krakens, who were given rights to recruit from the wolds of the Sub-Sector and began to watch for their own fallen kin, the Sub-Sector was an impenetrable fortress where none shall pass. When the Cicatrix Maledictum opened in the sky and half the Imperium was hidden from the Emperor's light, the Hammer Guard were already preparing defenses, settling into each system alongside their Novus Kraken cousins. Just as they feared, the combined forces of the Forsaken Hammers and Leviathans Eclipse besieged the Sub-Sector, eager to claim or corrupt the lives of their loyalist brothers. Within a year the Night of Division became four separate wars, as each system fought isolated from their brothers. Messis System In the Messis system, the 8th and elements of the 4th companies of the Hammer Guard fought alongside the 9th company of the Novus Krakens to hold off an army of cultists and Forsaken Hammers to prevent the fortress world of Decardia from becoming a staging ground into the rest of the Sub-Sector. Turning the already well-defended world into a singular fortress, the Astartes used the world as a trap, drawing in the enemy and obliterating them with the aid of the Decardian Cavalier regiments stationed on the planet. Modago System In the Modago System, the 1st, 6th, and 9th companies of the Hammer Guard formed a defensive blockade around the worlds of Devax Victri and Fabrica, unwilling to let their primary recruiting grounds or the Forge World which supplied the sub-sector's regiments to fall into enemy hands. After years of void combat as the Forsaken Hammers probed their defenses, the traitorous warband launched a daring strike on Devax Victri. Deploying a full half of their fleet, they assaulted the Hammer Guard's flagship Hammer of Gabarlos directly, bringing the strike cruisers they stole from their kin years before alongside the massive Battle Barge. Distracted as the strike cruisers launched boarding parties, the ships filled with cultists made it through the blockade and onto the ground, fortifying their landing grounds and beginning a brutal war of attrition against the Hammer Guard. The price of their success, however, became evident as Dominum Custodem Kyradexus boarded the Strike Cruiser Shield of Hate and slew the Lord of the Forsaken, Kalgor the Devourer. Without a leader, the fleet retreated, leaving their ground forces without reinforcements. Solaritus System The Solaritus System, while the most heavily defended, took the full brunt of the assault. Knowing the value of the system, the Forsaken Hammers and Leviathans Eclipse deployed most of their Heretic Astartes in the system, each after their own individual targets. Having once been a part of the Hammer Guard, the Forsaken know the value of Gabarlos, and so Aspiring Champion Karrova deployed his sorcerers and Astartes to capture the world, meeting the 7th and 3rd Hammer Guard companies and 2nd company of Novus Krakens in combat, and sending their cultists to Solaritus, pinning down the Hammer Guard's 2nd company. On the ocean world of Cadere, the 1st and 7th companies of the Novus Krakens engaged the full force of the Leviathans Eclipse, the war for the planet becoming an eerie reenactment of the Fall of Mobidium. Towards the end of the war, the Solaritus System became the crucial theatre of the war. Pushing back the Leviathans Eclipse, the Novus Krakens prevented their new recruiting grounds from suffering the same fate as their beloved Mobidium. Meanwhile on Solaritus the cultist mobs had torn open the warp and unleashed vile Daemons upon its surface, nearly overwhelming the fatigued defenders of the capital world. The newly freed Novus Krakens 1st company moved to assist Solaritus while the 7th heard the plight of the Hammer Guard on Gabarlos. Upon the sacred surface of Gabarlos, the Forsaken Hammers had forced the Hammer Guard into the ruins of their old fortress-monastery. However despite the centuries long passed the ancient monastery's defenses were as impenetrable as during the Chapter's prime rule of the planet, the tactics employed by Legates Morake and Cybus ensuring that no heretic would pass. Desperate to break his loyalist kin and capture the world they deemed sacred, that they would be consumed with grief and open to corruption, the newly-promoted Chaos Lord Karrova brought out a new weapon. By sacrificing his chief sorcerer Anukos Redscream and offering all the blood spilled on both sides throughout the war-ravaged Sub-Sector to win the Blood God's favor, Karrova summoned the Bloodthirster Kale'malum, letting loose the arch-enemy of the Hammer Guard upon their most sacred world. Slaughtering many of the remaining Hammer Guard Astartes, Kale'malum charged towards the Chapter's command center -the ancient Fortress Monastery- and soon engaged the two Legates of the Hammer Guard in combat. Hopelessly outmatched, Legates Morake and Cybus, along with Novus Krakens melee specialists, could merely deflect the violent swings of the Daemon's axe. As Legate Morake was thrown aside by a blow, Dødrimmel Ledavfå Alexandros Krakenblade desperately overloaded and threw his sacred jump pack at the Bloodthirster, letting it detonate upon the side of the Daemon's head. Given an opening, the remainder of the Hammer Guard Paladins led by Legate Cybus, alongside Alexandros Krakenblade and his fellow assault marines, struck the Bloodthirster with Thunder Hammer, Eviscerator, and Chainsword alike; and through grueling concentration where one mistake would lead to failure, banished it. With their greatest weapon broken and their foe's spirit renewed, the Forsaken Hammers fled, recalling their forces from the Sub-Sector in bitter defeat. Lorchis System Defended by the 5th company of the Hammer Guard as well as the 4th and 6th companies of the Novus Krakens, the Lorchis System, particularly the world of Karline, became the grounds for guerilla warfare between the loyalist and heretic forces as they battled for the planet. Within the dense forests and inhospitable terrain the Loyalists hunted small strike parties of cultists as they attempted to sabotage and occupy the defenses of the system, so that if the attempt to capture the Messis system failed there may be another rally point. At the end of the war, these attacks happened more frequently, and soon the planet was assaulted by a vengeful force of Heretic Astartes. Showing no mercy, they simply slaughtered and left, cutting down a loyalist for every one left behind on Solaritus and Gabarlos. Aftermath As the Indomitus Crusade arrived and the heretics fled, the Hammer Guard and Novus Krakens were reunited with their brothers left on the Light Side of the Cicatrix Maledictum, and continued to handle their dead and wounded finally in peace. The Sub-Sector in ruins and the surrounding systems aflame with the mark of the Forsaken, the Hammer Guard would spend two years in the Sub-Sector as they rebuilt the systems they called home while the Novus Krakens Chapter and the Hammer Guard 3rd company would continue on, purging the taint from the surrounding worlds and taking part in the Indomitus Crusade. The casualties of the war would result in over 65% of the Hammer Guard chapter being replaced with the Primaris Marine reinforcements, while the Novus Krakens numbers would fall below 300, graciously accepting only the same number in Primaris Marines. Category:Campaigns Category:Forsaken Hammers Category:History Category:Imperial Campaigns Category:Imperium Category:Novus Krakens Category:Space Marines